In vascular surgical procedures, the surgeon needs to control the vessel undergoing treatment, repair, or reconstruction. The vessel typically needs to be dissected and isolated to provide for the requisite controlled manipulation. Once isolated, the vessel needs to be clamped to stop blood flow while performing a bypass or other surgical manipulation of the artery or vein. Clamps can also be used to temporarily or permanently prevent the flow of blood into a vascular aneurysm or to align tissue such as nerve endings or the urethra.
The clamp is generally held by forceps and handed to the surgeon for placement. The surgeon then manipulates the clamp to achieve the correct orientation for proper placement on the vessel. Existing clamps and the forceps used to hold them make it difficult to securely hold the clamps, which may slip out of the forceps during use. Existing clamps typically have two arms that are connected to a spring-loaded hub. The proximal ends are manually compressed together to open the distal ends.
However, due to the limited ability of current forceps to manipulate and stably apply clamps, there is an ongoing need for improvements in vascular clamp operation to improve safety and ease of use.